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Latin America will no doubt be one of Francis’s priorities. But first he must reestablish the Catholic Church’s moral authority, which has been badly damaged by the scandal over numerous cases of pedophilia by priests, the Church’s attempts to cover them up,and dubious financial practices, among other problems. Only if he succeeds on the “domestic” front will he be able to exercise political influence “abroad.” If he fails in this task, the high expectations that he has raised after John Paul II (who addressed reports of pedophilia by dispatching them to the archives) and Benedict XVI (who was too feeble to act) will turn against him and his church.